Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians (died 911) became ruler of English Mercia shortly after the death of its last king, Ceolwulf II, in 879. His rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of the Viking-ruled Danelaw. Æthelred's origin is unknown, and he was first recorded as the probable leader of an unsuccessful Mercian invasion of Wales in 881. Shortly afterwards, he married Æthelflæd, a daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex, and submitted to Alfred's lordship, an important step towards the unification of England in the next century. In the 890s the Vikings renewed their attacks, and in 893 Æthelred led a joint force of Mercians, West Saxons and Welsh to a decisive victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Buttington. He spent much of the decade fighting the Vikings in cooperation with Alfred's son, the future Edward the Elder. Historians disagree whether Æthelred governed Mercia as Alfred's deputy or whether he was a ruler of a semi- independent territory. Æthelred died in 911 and was succeeded by his widow, and then briefly by his daughter, before Mercia was annexed by Edward the Elder in 918.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelred,_Lord_of_the_Mercians
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1852:
The inaugural Harvard–Yale Regatta—the first intercollegiate sports event in the United States—was held on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard%E2%80%93Yale_Regatta
1900:
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, a pioneer in the mass production of automobile tires, was founded by Harvey Firestone in Akron, Ohio, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Tire_and_Rubber_Company
1929:
Jiddu Krishnamurti, believed to likely be the messianic "World Teacher", shocked the Theosophy movement by dissolving the Order of the Star, the organisation established to support him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Star_in_the_East
1940:
World War II: Italy began their invasion of British Somaliland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_conquest_of_British_Somaliland
2007:
Former Deputy Director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga was captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Iturriaga
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
bowdlerize: To remove those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bowdlerize
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
 There was a world of mutants, men and women who were more than normal men and women, persons who had certain human talents and certain human understandings which the normal men and women of the world had never known, or having known, could not utilize in their entirety, unable to use intelligently all the mighty powers which lay dormant in their brains. --Clifford D. Simak https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak